For three days, an orange Case CX145D excavator made chomping down the Haber Building on West Elkhorn Avenue look easy.
Jon “Hippy” Smith of High Plains Excavation watched over each move of the excavator like a midwife supervising a birth, dashing back and forth from one side of the building to the other to ensure the operation came off without a hitch.
Methodically, working from the backside of the property on Cleave Street, the excavator began by knocking down an old cabin and then worked its way to the three storefronts at 133, 135, and 137 W. Elkhorn Ave. As it did, the excavator, maneuvered by Tommy Kelly and his son Joseph, used its claw-like jaws to scoop the detritus into roll-off dumpsters.
The century-old building, situated between Simply Christmas to its east and The Stanley Chocolate Factory to the west, was razed to make way for an addition to The Stanley Chocolate Factory, which will house a vintage-styled carousel.
As the excavator pulled down the front of the building, Carissa Streib, owner of Simply Christmas, sat on the curb across the street and wiped away tears, “I have a hard time with change,” she said.
Streib grew up in Estes Park and worked in the shops that were being torn down. She reminisced about the history of West Elkhorn as she monitored the safety of the west side of Simply Christmas, a log cabin which was built in 1902, according to the Historic West Elkhorn website.
Her store had once been the home of the Log Cabin Café, then the Log Cabin Waffle Kitchen, and then the Trails End Café. The cabin itself may date back to 1894, according to Strieb, who said that many years ago, Tommy Kelly, who was operating the excavator, had worked in the building as a dishwasher when it was a restaurant.
Several businesses in what became known as the Haber Building made their home in what looked like three stores over the years. These included the National Park Outfitting Co. & Taxidermy Museum as early as 1919, followed by RL Brown’s dry cleaners in the 1920s, and Estes Park Shoe Repair in the 1930s.
Between the 1950s and 1970s, other businesses that occupied the structure included The Mountaineer Shop, Heraldics Research, The Candy Box, and Blake Trading. The most recent tenants were Mocha Angelos, Craftsmen in Leather, Gold Elements, and The Estes Paw Co.
Asked if there were any surprises in razing the building, owner John Cullen said the biggest surprise was that there were no major surprises, at least in terms of problems with the demolition.
One discovery that was revealed as the building was torn down was that the rafters in the store in the middle of the building had suffered significant charring from a fire at one point. The damage had been camouflaged, but the integrity of the building had been compromised, said Cullen.
Many of the buildings on Elkhorn, which were constructed in the early 1900s, do not have foundations that meet today’s building code standards and are not compliant with the accessibility regulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The Stanley Chocolate Factory was expected to open on July 4, but construction and equipment delays have pushed back its grand opening until the holiday season this year or later. The building has been used as a venue for private events over the past several months.
A steel wall on the east side of the new carousel building, expected to be done next summer, along with steel pilings to support the structure, will need to be installed, said Cullen. When he began renovating the Old Church Shops, originally built in 1909 as the Presbyterian Community Church, he discovered that there was no foundation under the old sanctuary. To proceed with his plans to convert the building into The Stanley Chocolate Factory—a mercantile, dining, coffee shop, and event venue—he had to excavate under the building to construct a foundation and install steel beams to support the structure.
The demolition debris is expected to be cleared from the site before the community gathers next week for the annual Halloween trick-or-treating party on Elkhorn Avenue.
“It’s down and nobody got hurt,” said Smith with a sigh of relief after the front wall fell. “That’s what you call a perfect takedown.”
Could have been the East Wing of the White House.